


If the World Was Ending (You'd Come Over, Right?)

by Beckers522



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: A whole bunch of sadness, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Armageddon, Asexual Aziraphale (Good Omens), Asexual Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Asexual Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale and Crowley Through The Ages (Good Omens), Black Plague, Comfort, Crowley's Flat (Good Omens), Death of Abel, Great Fire of London, Holocaust, Holy Water, Hurt, Hurt Aziraphale (Good Omens), Hurt Crowley (Good Omens), Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Mutual Pining, Noah's Ark, Pining, Scene: Soho 1967 (Good Omens), Scene: The Bus Ride (Good Omens), The Crusades, The Flood - Freeform, The Night At Crowley's Flat (Good Omens), WW1, baby swap, black death, there's comfort at the end, until the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25630987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckers522/pseuds/Beckers522
Summary: "If the world was ending, you'd come over, right? You'd come over and you'd stay the night. Would you love me for the hell of it? All our fears would be irrelevant. If the world was ending? You'd come over, right? Right?"Inspired by a song I heard on the radio. Crowley and Aziraphale through the ages as they witness the horrors of human history. Each time, the pain and hurt and sorrow grows more intense, and the world just keeps on spinning. Each time, through every tragedy they are forced to endure, all they wish for at the end of the day is the other's presence, so they don't have to go through things alone.A lot of hurt but with the promise of comfort at the end of it all.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	If the World Was Ending (You'd Come Over, Right?)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. I just wanted to say, it's been a tough week. I'm feeling stretched pretty thin at the moment and I'm trying my best but sometimes it's just hard. The song "If the World Was Ending" by JP Saxe and Julia Michaels came on the radio on my drive home Wednesday and I immediately got Ineffable Husbands vibes from it. This is going to be a journey through the ages as demon and angel deal with all the horrors of human history, all the while just wishing the other could be there to see them through it. There will be a lot of angst. A lot of tears and hurt, but it will end with comfort. Six thousand years in the making.
> 
> I hope you enjoy <3

Blood turned the dusty earth a crimson red as it pooled against the ground, filling the air with a sharp tang that was as familiar as it was strange. The world had seen death before. Adam and Eve had left the garden, sword in hand, and all of Creation had known death would soon follow. It was the nature of things. Kill or be killed. At least, it had been, until now.

This was different. This was unnecessary. Unprovoked. Premeditated. Cruel. This wasn’t a sword piercing through the hide of a lion in self-defense. Nor was it an arrow taking the life of a rabbit or a hog. This was brother, turning against brother. This was rage and jealousy and a hatred so strong, it was difficult to see how it had come about. When had the playful games gone away? When had the teasing turned malicious? When had sibling rivalry transformed into a need to vanquish and destroy?

Why had no one stopped it?

Aziraphale stood by Abel’s side as the pool of blood began to trickle down the sloped grass, the dry, prickly blades doing nothing to stop its flow. Cain had already fled the scene. Whether due to fear of being caught or horror at what he had done, the angel did not know. Aziraphale feared he might never know. Abel was already dead. There was nothing to be done, and yet Aziraphale still stood, transfixed by the deep red that was slowly spreading across the earth beneath them both.

_ Protect them, Aziraphale.  _ Someone had once said in what felt like a lifetime ago.  _ Keep them safe from harm. Make sure no evil falls upon them.  _

_ Don’t interfere. They must be free to make their own choices. You cannot make them do the right thing, and you cannot fix their mistakes. _

_ Guide them. Teach them how to be good. How to do the right thing. _

What was he supposed to do, in a situation like this? He couldn’t undo this choice that had been made. Couldn’t have stopped it from happening, even if he’d been standing right before the brothers as they’d fought. Aziraphale could do nothing but stand there and watch as humanity sowed the seeds of their own destruction.

An agonizing cry ripped through the evening light. Aziraphale’s head snapped up to the top of the hill where the boy’s mother was already stumbling down the grassy slope. She would likely have cuts and bruises for days to come, but caution had left the woman’s entire being the moment her eyes fell upon her son’s face as he lay in a pool of his own blood.

“Abel!” the name ripped from her throat as she fell over him, arms slipping underneath his bare shoulders, pulling him up onto her lap. Adam was close behind her, eyes scanning the entire area, looking for who might have done such a terrible thing. 

Tears streamed from their eyes as husband held wife and mother held son. Still, Aziraphale found that he could not move. He could not leave this spot, despite how his heavy heart begged him to go. There was nothing left to be done here. Nothing he could say or do to ease their pain or fix everything that had been broken. He could not interfere in any way. 

He felt as helpless as the human woman crying her heart out barely a dozen feet in front of him.

“Please,” her agonizing moan filled the hot air around them and Aziraphale felt his heart seize in his chest. Eve looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the light of the dying sun. “Please, can’t you do something? Can’t you bring him back?”

The angel opened his lips to speak with the authority the Almighty had given to all celestial beings, but the words died in his throat. They crumbled and settled back inside his chest, weighing it down, leaving an ashy taste in his mouth. He was an angel - a creature built of love - a creature built to perform miracles, and yet Aziraphale could not move past the ringing in his ears. The words repeating over and over again.  _ You cannot interfere. They must be free to make their own choices. _

“ _ Please,”  _ she begged, and Aziraphale had to turn away. He forced his eyes to drift past her, toward the clouds that were now turning brilliant shades of orange and scarlet with just a hint of purple mixed in between. “Please, I’ll do anything. Take me instead.” Another sob tore at Aziraphale’s heart, bringing tears to his eyes that he would not let fall. “Please don’t let him be gone.”

He stood resolute like that for an hour, or perhaps a century. It was impossible to tell. Night fell and the humans quieted their cries and when Aziraphale finally allowed himself to  _ see _ what was around him, the angel found that he was all alone. 

The world had ended once, on a great wall surrounding a vast garden. The winds had picked up and the rain had fallen as an angel and a demon stood and watched the Almighty’s greatest creation march away from Paradise out into the wasteland. Aziraphale remembered how those cool drops had fallen against his skin - startling at first, but then came as almost a comfort. A cool blanket against the scorching heat of the desert sun. He remembered how he’d stretched out his wing, almost instinctually, and the demon Crawly stepped sideways underneath it, shielded from the storm.

It had been strangely calming, then, to feel the presence of another being as they watched the world fall apart, side by side. Things would never be the same again, and yet, somehow Aziraphale had felt comforted in that moment, knowing he did not have to bear the weight of the world ending alone.

Was the world ending now? Was this the start of it all falling apart? How could these humans continue to live knowing what horrors they were capable of? How could they find the strength to wake up tomorrow knowing that this was what waited for them? This hollow feeling in their chest, stomach twisting in knots so tight they would never come undone. Heart aching, feeling as though it was moments away from shattering into a million pieces. 

_ Did it have to happen this way?  _ Aziraphale wished he had the strength to ask, in the stillness of the night, bright stars hanging high overhead. Asking questions was not the way of an angel. He had to have faith in the Great Plan. The Almighty’s will was ineffable, after all. There was no point to asking questions he would never know the answer to.

**IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.**

The voice should have been startling. Had it been anyone else, Aziraphale likely would have leapt with fright, but Death had a way about them. Even before this horrific day, they were always present, even if they weren’t always easy to see.

“I suppose,” the angel murmured softly as the figure cloaked in black glided forward to stand at his side. What else could he say? “Still, it isn’t entirely the most pleasant thing to witness.”

How he managed to respond with a level voice, Aziraphale would never know. On the outside, he appeared as a proper angel. Still. Calm. Resolute. On the inside, he was sure he was slowly crumbling apart.

**IS IT NOT?**

Piercing blue eyes gazed over in his direction. There was no face visible under Death’s hood. Only shadows surrounding those vibrant, endless pools. Aziraphale felt a shiver run down his spine as he tried to keep his gaze fixed forward and not on the dark stain against the ground or the figure that still lingered beside him.

“Did you - ” the question danced on the tip of his tongue and the angel was powerless to hold it back. “Did you know this would happen?” 

Death turned to look at Aziraphale. Even from the corner of his eyes, the angel could see the eerie blue gaze, attempting to pierce his very soul.

**I WOULD BE OUT OF A JOB IF IT DIDN’T.**

Before Aziraphale could utter another word, Death was gone. Disappearing into thin air like he had never been there to begin with. The wind blew by and Aziraphale found himself shivering, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to ward off the chill.

Once again, Aziraphale found his thoughts returning to the demon he’d met on the wall. In a strange way, he wished Crawly was here with him, if only so he didn’t have to deal with all this alone. 

How could a brother turn against his own family? How could one person take the life of another? How could humanity move on from such a tragedy?

How could it get any worse than this? 

**Author's Note:**

> What better way to start this story out than with the first death humanity ever had to endure? I really feel for Eve in this chapter, probably more so than I do for Aziraphale. No parent should ever have to experience the death of their child, and to have it happen at the hands of another, and to be the first, and have no one alive who can understand the pain - I can't even imagine how alone she felt in that moment and all the moments after. 
> 
> For anyone who is a fan of musicals (like myself), "Children of Eden" does a really great job of portraying Adam and Eve's story, both in the garden and after. It adds a lot to the original source material and I find the story very engaging and interesting to listen to.
> 
> I have this whole story planned out, but it's going to be pretty sporadic with updates due to my other ongoing projects. If you're liking what you see, please feel free to drop a comment. Reading them really does make my day brighter.


End file.
